Busting Cloth Diaper Myths: “Cloth Diapers are too Expensive!”

You have a baby on the way – maybe your first, maybe your fourth – and you’ve decided cloth diapering is the system for you. Prepare yourself; you are soon going to be bombarded with unsolicited advice and facts, much of which just isn’t true. For some reason, whether people have used cloth diapers or not, everyone has an opinion and everyone has heard a myth they are eager to spread.

With so much information coming at you from every angle, it’s hard to know what is true and what isn’t. Fear not – our new blog series, Busting Cloth Diaper Myths, will tackle these myths one by one so you know exactly what you are getting into.

Today’s Myth: “Cloth Diapers are too expensive”

Growing your family is costly; there is no denying it. It can be pretty amazing what one little baby needs – and those needs add up! That said, it’s completely understandable to try to save money where you can – so stop listening to the naysayers! Cloth diapers have a bad reputation of being more expensive than disposables, but guess what? That simply isn’t true. Let us show you:

The initial investment

We want to be honest with you, when you decide to cloth diaper your baby, the initial investment is high. You should expect to purchase 24 Duo diaper inserts, 6 absorbent liners and 4 covers for full-time cloth diapering (based on our recommended Wizard Duo Complete package). This is the best solution to allow laundry only once every 2-3 days and keep your baby in One Size diapers until they are potty trained. With all this in mind, you can expect to spend between $600 and $800 to cloth diaper your baby, which can seem daunting, but let’s keep looking at the numbers.

The cost of disposable diapers

When your baby is born, and until they are about 3 months old, you can expect to go through around 12 disposable diapers a day – that’s almost 1100 diapers! After those first three months, you will see your diaper changes decrease as your baby gets older. However, as your baby grows, the boxes of diapers stay the same size and same price – but the diapers are getting bigger. So if the diapers are getting bigger and the package size stays the same, obviously the number of diapers you are getting decreases – and the price stays the same. By this time, you are already hooked on disposable diapers; that hardly seems fair, does it? And on top of that, not only are you spending all that money, at the end of the day, it is also ending up in a landfill.

Let the numbers make the decision for you

The easiest way to determine the winner in the cloth vs. disposable debate comes to do numbers:

Disposable Diapers

Cloth Diapers

Average cost per diaper

$0.25 – $0.28

$14 – $21

Average cost of
changes per day

$2 – $2.24

Laundry – Electricity, water & depreciation of washer and dryer
(Varies based on appliances and local utilities)

Total diaper cost
for 2.5 years

$1826 – $2045.12

$575 – $740 + laundry costs

As you can see, there are additional costs that are associated with cloth diapering in terms of laundry, but in diapers alone, you will be saving up to $1300!